Formula 1: Porpoising effect has Mercedes deeply Concerned: The porpoising effect has really left Mercedes thinking how quick their 2022 car is. After the new set of regulations in Formula 1, the ground effect in cars was making their comeback. But, Mercedes have felt the main pressure after seriously lacking pace in comparison to Ferrari and Red Bull. Follow Formula 1 Live Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Mercedes’ head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin said, “What we don’t know is, if we could just magically make that issue vanish, where would we actually be in terms of car pace: is the car fast enough or not? And it’s very difficult to answer that question.”
Formula 1: HUGE CONCERN for Mercedes who has failed to recover from the PORPOSING effects after the first TWO races of the F1 2022 Season
The Silver Arrows team are struggling after having a bad start to the 2022 season. Their W13 car is unable to fight against the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull. The up-gradation of Mercedes has been hampered by Porpoising. It is an issue that all the teams have suffered in the early stages of the 2022 season.
Here’s what we mean by porpoising when it comes to the new cars #F1 #F1Testing https://t.co/lHmwG4v9CG
— Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) February 24, 2022
Meanwhile, some teams on the grid have been able to solve this issue but Mercedes still haven’t found a way. Shovlin admits that the team still has no answers on how to run the car without Porpoising. It also means they have no clue whether the W13 is capable of a fight at the front.
Shovlin was even asked how to get rid of Porpoising without compromising the car’s performance. He replied, “That’s probably priority number one. Because that’s ultimately preventing us from running the car where we’d like to run it for optimum performance.”
To move forward with their new car, Mercedes needs to understand what is the cause of Porpoising. It is a much more complicated affair as too much downforce pushes the car down on the straights. However, it then hits the ground and bounces back up.
Shovlin added, “Fundamentally, we need to understand the problem better. We’ve got some avenues that I think are giving us a good direction. But it’s taking a bit of time to get those parts on the car. And we’re working very hard.”
Formula 1: HUGE CONCERN for Mercedes who has failed to recover from the PORPOSING effects after the first TWO races of the F1 2022 Season
“We’re well aware that there are other teams that have got on top of this problem faster than we have. And that’s not the standard we normally work to. Every bit of effort at the factory is going into getting on top of this. Also making sure we don’t neglect normal car development. But there’s a lot of work trying to pull us out of this situation at the moment.”
Some of the teams have cured the Porpoising issue by cutting away some portions of their floor. Hence, it then sacrifices the downforce. But, Mercedes are keen on sticking with its original design as of now.
It is because Mercedes thinks if they can cure the Porpoising issue then they can tackle the downforce. Shovlin further added, “If you can solve the problem with the porpoising you don’t need to give up the downforce. The issue is that most teams, I think, to a greater or lesser extent, are trading one for the other.”
“We did try a cutaway floor in Bahrain test. We tried it on Friday in Bahrain. We think what we ended up with was overall a better solution. But at the moment we’re considering what we’ve done as very much sticking plasters for the problem. And we need to fix the problem in a more effective way that doesn’t just drop performance.”
Formula 1: HUGE CONCERN for Mercedes who has failed to recover from the PORPOSING effects after the first TWO races of the F1 2022 Season
Mercedes have a two weeks break after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix before the next race in Australia. They need to find a way to cure Porpoising and help them in the season ahead. But, Shovlin thinks the team needs more analysis before they knew exactly what they needed.
Shovlin asserted, “We’ve got some avenues that are starting to show interesting results. And that we’ve explored on track and made a step in the right direction. But clearly not a big enough step. I think for us right now, the most dangerous thing is to think we understand this. With every day we run, we’re learning, and every day in the factory we’re learning.”
“I think it’s a problem that we should get to grips with within the relatively near future hopefully. We’re not floundering around in the dark, but we do need to move forward quickly.”
If Mercedes needs to be fighting for the titles once again, then they need to get on top of their issues quickly. By the time they have fixed them, Ferrari and Red Bull will be out of their reach.
Formula 1: HUGE CONCERN for Mercedes who has failed to recover from the PORPOSING effects after the first TWO races of the F1 2022 Season
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